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Humanity has, for as long as anyone can remember, organized itself in communities dedicated to survival. Most people sustain various forms of mutations. People are split into groups according to what drives them – curiosity, wanderlust, family, exploration, safety, invention, or defence. Some groups have legal systems. Some have organized religion. Some move around while others stay put.

Here is some information on the Underworld and its societies in RATS. Use it, abuse it, or create your own Underworld. It is your plaything, after all.

In the bowels of the world

All of the action in RATS takes place underground. The Underworld is a vast network of tunnels, caverns, and catacombs that riddle the earth as though it was a piece of Swiss cheese.

Here and there one can find manholes, cracks, grates, hatches and even cave mouths open to the Surface. No one dares go out there, and those who have, have been blinded as well as badly burned and even killed by the unfiltered rays of a deadly sun.

Radiation is constant in the Underworld, but worst near the Surface. Most people are no longer affected by it unless they enter areas where the concentration is particularly high. Water sources are sometimes contaminated by toxins that have seeped into the earth from whatever is left over from the industries and wars on the Surface.

In some of the tunnels, automated ghost trains race in loops and stop for nothing and no one between stations. If you are caught in a tunnel when the train comes you will be dead meat.

Some people have built cities in the open caverns – established governments and societies. Your characters are probably part of such a group.